friend poetry

when i was a boy at college
sleep, gray brother of death
soft as the bed in the earth
all quiet along the potomac
in the cloud-gray mornings
have you seen walking through the village
a storm is riding on the tide
so fallen
bring me soft song
there is no flock, however watched and tended
the old west, the old time
i made a vow once, one only
i have known the silence of the stars and of the sea
be patient, life, when love is at the gate